A couple of years ago, I was seeing this pretty cool guy with quite a few interesting body mods. I really loved them, and had always wanted to have some as well. And although, back then, because of the family and community that I was raised in, I was pretty straight-edged and did not have many of my own mods; I still wanted to start things off as interestingly as I could; so I decided to get my septum pierced.
At A Glance Author Danielle (Effulgence) Contact Danielle (Effulgence)@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Shane Studio Freaks Inn Location Hamilton, Ontario My boyfriend at the time was friends with this really cool guy; Shane. He was outgoing, really fun, and had amazing piercings and tattoos. And last but not least: he was a certified piercing artist. So one night, my boyfriend brought me to Shane's parlor, we chilled, talked about piercings and tattoos and all that awesome stuff. He showed me some pictures of the piercings he'd done on other people, and I was really impressed. He was quite talented. So, I told him what piercing I'd like. He seemed pretty impressed that such a small-statured and soft-spoken girl like me would want a piercing like that.
I told him that one of the biggest reasons why I wanted it was because of how proud I am of my background from my mom's side of the family. She's from Papua, New Guinea. And her ancestors were one of the few tribes people who were the most untouched by any other civilization up until recent history. Their tribe leaders, warriors and huntsmen had many, many body modifications as a sign of strength, power and wisdom. They had such mods as very large gauged septum and bridge piercings (made of natural things like animal bone), brandings, traditionally done tattoos, and other such things. So getting my septum done was my homage to them.
So, after hearing my decision and explanation he let me know how happy he was to hear that there were still young people who actually gave some thought to their piercings before getting them. He then proceeded to warn me about how it would be a fairly painful mod since it was going through such thick cartilage and a few other things, like after-care, and made sure that I was as well prepared as possible.
He asked me what gauge and what kind of jewelry that I would like to have. I had to think about it for a little while, but I finally decided on a 12 gauge, because I found that anything smaller would be wimpy and I wanted it to look as awesome as possible. I also told him that I wanted a horseshoe so that I could flip it up into my nose if I ever needed to go for interviews for jobs that didn't accept facial peircings. He agreed and told me that he thought that it was probably the best way to go. We picked out a 12 gauge septum ring from his pack and put it aside.
There I was, getting cleaned up, sanitized, marked and ready to go. I was getting so excited and happy, that I couldn't wipe that smile off of my face. My boyfriend at the time, having already gone through getting his septum pierced, was excited for me, but was also cringing because he remembered the pain quite clearly. However, he just sat there with me, held my hand and gave me his support all the same.
After being prepped, Shane asked me the final question before going ahead with things; "Are you ready?" I had butterflies in my stomach, but I was ready to go. So he grabbed his newly sanitized clamps, lined up the holes with the markings he had made earlier, and double-checked to make sure everything was lined-up properly to be as straight a piercing as possible. My eyes started watering from the pressure on my cartilage from the clamps, but I tried to ignore it. He then picked up a needle package, which read 12 gauge on it, then looked at me for the go-ahead. I gave him a reassured look, and he did it. He pushed it through nice and quickly, and the piercing part was done with. I found that the clamps were more uncomfortable than the actual needle.
He then grabbed the jewelry that we had put aside, wiped it down one last time with an alcohol swab to make sure it was perfectly clean, and then started to chase the needle with it. But, no one was prepared for what followed: The jewelry felt way too big for some reason. And as it reached the center, the threads got caught on my cartilage. I explained to Shane that it was hurting a bit more than I had expected, and then he let me know that it was going through with a lot more difficulty than it normally would have.
He stopped pushing it through for a bit and asked me what I wanted to do. I could just be a big trooper and take a bit more pain to try to get it all the way through, or we could stop and take out the needle. I told him that I really wanted this done and that I could take it because of my high-pain tolerance. So, he went ahead with it; he tried pushing it all the way through. But even with all that effort, it wasn't going through. We were all confused. Unfortunately, it started to bleed a bit from the threads grinding against my cartilage. So he decided to take everything out to minimalize the damage it might be causing.
I was disappointed, and thought that I wouldn't be able to get it done. I thought that maybe there was just something wrong with the structure of my nose. As I sat there with a bit of paper towel to dab whatever blood was there, Shane took a closer look at the needle and the jewelry. He then seemed to have an epiphany. He looked at my very apologetically, and told me that the needle's package had been labeled wrong; it was only a 14 gauge, and the reason why the jewelry wouldn't go through was because it was a size too big. We had been stretching a newly made hole with a threaded horseshoe.
He apologized profusely and told me that he would refund my money, since he botched the piercing. I told him that it was all right, and that it wasn't his fault that something was labeled wrong. And since I was so understanding of things, he said that he would do it again, free of charge. So I said yes. I was too pumped for the piercing to give up. So, he got a little ice pack and put on my nose to kind of numb it a bit, and within 5-7 minutes, I was ready to go. He re-sanitized everything, got out a new needle, made sure it was the right size, and re-clamped it, and with a surgeon-steady hand, re-pierced it through the exact same place, not a millimeter to high or too low. It hurt quite a bit, but it was perfectly straight, and the jewelry went through without a hitch.
While my boyfriend was cringing and looking away, not able to see my eyes water from the pain, I smiled and thanked Shane for doing it for me. My nose was sore, but it was a wonderfully done piercing. And now I have a great story to tell people when they ask me about my septum.